A Cross Point in Time
by Alexander Dregon
Summary: In the world we know the Interstellar Alliance was formed. But at the incident on Babylon Four we found a possible alternative to that reality. Now it becomes a reality as well. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!
1. Chapter 1

Cross point in Time.

_Captain's log: Star date: 5174.3 _

_Having been assigned to intercept and analyze an anomaly in Sector G-374, the DaeHawk has encountered a storm of unknown origin and composition. We have been trapped in this for three hours, unable to reach Star Fleet command or any other ship. All efforts to extricate our selves have proved less than worthless. I had considered releasing an emergency buoy, but in the midst of this storm feel it would be worse than useless. _

_End entry. _

On the bridge of Federation Starship (F.S.S) DaeHawk, Captain Dayton Alexander sat in his chair and fumed silently. For three hours they had been in this maelstrom of unknown origin, cut off from Star fleet command, or anyone else for that matter. Sensors were useless, and without them any move he made was equally so. Therefore, they had more or less held their position as best they could, waiting for some abatement in the storm.

Meanwhile his first officer/ science officer, D'mar Bencre did everything he could to try to find an answer to a situation he could not have predicted, but felt guilty about just the same. It was supposed to be his job to give the warnings about anything that could be a danger to the ship. And in his mind, he had blown it.

Captain Alexander had no such feelings however. He knew it was no one's fault. If they hadn't all been so engaged in trying to see the anomaly that had preceded the storm so closely, they might have had a chance to avoid it. But they hadn't. And now, there was no need for recriminations. Just action.

"Mr. Bencre, anything? At all."

"Nothing Captain. Sensors will not penetrate the storm for more than a few kilometers in any direction. And any reading they give is suspect."

"So we just sit here and hope it dies off before we do, huh?" Alexander didn't want to take it out on his first officer but he was about all he had.

"No sir. We can of course play cards."

Alexander smiled in spite of himself. " Hell no. You cheat." As laughter echoed around the bridge, Alexander relaxed a little. Despite the unusual magnitude it was after all just a storm. And despite her size the Daehawk was as formidable and durable as any ship in the fleet. Or in space for that matter.

A product of the build-up against the Borg, the Daehawk had been commissioned and built in just over a year and a half hitting space just in time to welcome home Captain,(now Admiral), Janeway, back from the Delta quadrant. Complete with news of, if the not the demise, then at least the severe curtailment of Borg activities. Now he felt as if the brass felt the ship was an embarrassment.

Heavily armed and armored, it was smaller that even the old NX class that Jonathan Archer had captained way back at the beginning of Earth's interstellar exploration. But that was where the similarities ended.

Automation and consolidation had reduced her crew requirements to fifteen. As she was never designed to carry a large contingent, although she was outfitted with a platoon of strike type troops, she had little in the way of amenities. The men were quite comfortable, but it was not a pleasure ship by any means. Even the old Constellation class had that all over her.

No, her forte was battle, plain and simple. Armored with the latest ablative armor from stem to stern, nearly four meters thick and bolstered by internal force field generators, The theory was it would even hold back the Borg's formidable weaponry. Add to that transphasic shielding and the designers figured it was as ready as it could be.

Then there was her armament.

Ten phaser banks with multi-directional projectors. Not to mention their own matter-anti matter reactor to power them. Plus the side mounted compression phaser cannon. All in the four hundred giga-watt range. Even the Romulan war-birds didn't want to tangle with them. Add to that ten photon torpedo tubes placed fore and aft and a compliment of four hundred torpedoes and you had some serious firepower.

There was only one problem.

Without the Borg, or possibly the Dominion, there was no enemy to use it against. Despite the blustering of both, neither the Romulans nor the Cardassians was in any hurry to start a war. Since the Dominion war the Cardassians had even become friendlier towards the Federation.

All of which left the Daehawk in limbo. Other than a war there was really nothing for it to do that it was suited for. So they were given, for lack of a better term, "make-work". Star charting and recon missions to places no one really cared about, but that were far enough away that they didn't have to think about them.

So they had done their job as best they could, all the while knowing that the first mistake they made would get their ship consigned to a scrap yard and them transferred to different ships in the fleet.

Dayton Alexander knew this. As did every member of his crew. Yet he went on day after day, making reports and filing them, knowing that the only people who would read them were even more screwed than he was.

That was how they had gotten here. A simple job. Chart the path of an anomaly moving through space at near light speed, emitting a subspace wave that interfered with sensor drones to the point of rendering them useless. That was what they had been told.

When they arrived they had found it, only it wasn't emitting anything. Thinking it was intermittent they had observed it for several hours waiting to see of it would again begin the transmissions so they could at least scan them close up. During this time it had flared and caught them inside one of the waves they had come to investigate.

Now several hours later they were still inside the wave. And still no closer to getting out.

The bridge crew sat passively as they monitored all screens for any change in their situation. Although they had only been shipmates a few months Alexander knew each of them by face if not name. And with each face came a list of capabilities specific to each crew member. A fine crew any where in Star Fleet. But all of them knew they were walking the razor's edge on this ship. Yet their performances were excellent. It was only during off times when tempers were subject to flair and harsh words bandied about. But once they sat at their duty stations there had been no lapses in concentration or breaches of protocol. But there was always tension.

And the last two hours had done nothing to relieve it, as one by one theories were, proposed attempted, and discarded as failures.

The chief engineer, one Tayl Reddin, kept checking and re-checking figures, hoping to spot some loophole in the madness that surrounded them. He was in the midst of his fifth go round on the Tachyon detection circuitry when he heard it.

Faintly at first. Then with a little fine tuning, it became clearer. An added boost from their own Tachyon emitter and it became clearer still. Enough that he could make out words.

Words that sent a chill down his spine and sent blood rushing to his head. He spun to the captain. "Sir, you'll want to here this… wait a second. Damn, it's gone."

"What was it?" Alexander asked. Now every eye on the bridge landed on the Vendarian. He ignored them as he cued the recorder to play back what he had heard.

It was a woman's voice. Used to command from the sound of it. And unused to the terror it now felt. Reddin had only gotten three words recorded clearly enough to be understood but their meaning was clear enough to elicit the same response he'd had in the rest of the bridge crew.

The voice had said, "They're killing us!"

2.

"Can you get it back?!!"

"Trying sir but it was dumb luck we got it in the first place. It seems to be coming from one spot in that storm out there and I just happened to have the Tachyon receiver on it when it came through."

"Do you have a fix on that position?" After a moment. Checking he shouted, "Two twenty-one, mark six."

"Helm, hard over. Head for that spot. With luck it'll get us out of here." The helmsman, Benton Hall moved to comply thinking to himself, "Yeah but into what?"

The Daehawk moved quickly to the coordinates given. Once close enough it was easy to see. And equally hard to explain.

It looked as though someone had drilled a hole in the fabric of space itself. While the storm raged around it, Alexander could see stars against a background of blackness that looked inviting, if not familiar. Wherever it led, it was not home.

But it wasn't here either. That was a plus. And somewhere out there was a terrified woman in fear for her life…

Make that their lives. She had said us. Federation regs were both definite and specific in a case such as this. As if he needed prodding.

"Red alert! All crew to battle stations! Helm, get us through that! Full impulse power."

"Aye sir!"

The Daehawk shot through the "hole" in space before them, ready for battle. What they were not ready for was the sight that greeted them.

The most eye-catching thing was the huge rotating mass in front of them. It was truly huge, sensor readings,(which were working again,) showed five miles long. But the next objects to draw their attention were considerably smaller. They were wreckages of tiny, what appeared to be one man fighters, now reduced to scrap in what appeared to have been a last ditch attempt to fend off the station's attackers.

Then the first of those attackers came into view.

Captain Alexander was not the whimsical or superstitious type. He had fought Borg at Wolf 359 and the Dominion on several occasions. When the Klingons had declared the Kitamar treaties null and void he had faced them in combat many times as well. Yet with all that, the sight of this horror had nearly frozen him in his chair.

Massive, it dwarfed the Daehawk. It appeared to be built along the lines of a spider with far too many legs. But the most terrifying thing about it was the color. It was black but if you watched one spot, it seemed to shift and shimmer as though it was trying to pull you in. Add to that, the fact that as you watched it, you seemed to hear a scream in your mind seemed to try and freeze the marrow in your bones. No, a few seconds of observation and you knew this was not something you were going to reason with. Its goal was your death plain and simple.

Even before he could break out of his trance like state the thing fired.

The beam was unknown to the crew and indefinable to the sensors. But the shielding didn't need to know what it was to stop it. As the shock waves rolled through the ship, Alexander tried to gauge the beam's power by the sound. To his surprise he found it to be severely lacking.

"Damage report!"

A quick check of all internal sensors by Reddin showed none. "No damage, sir. The deflectors turned away all he had."

Alexander thought to himself. "Yeah but that was just the opening salvo." Deciding that the next round should be this he shouted, "Phasers, lock on and… fire!"

Instantly four blue-white bolts of energy leaped out of the Daehawk, each striking the target with unerring and deadly accuracy. At first, the thing seemed to recoil, then, as the bolts drove through its hull, to fold in on itself, not unlike a spider burned by a flame.

As he watched from the bridge of the Daehawk, Alexander was both amazed and repulsed by the sight. "Still," he reasoned, " if they make their ships look like that, I can't see their pilots being warm and fuzzy."

But the time for questions like that was later. Now a half a dozen of the things were converging on his ship. And unless he was very wrong they were not bringing tea and cookies.

"Photon torpedoes, full spread!" Again, the response was as near instant as humanly possible,

with five torpedoes hitting space at nearly the same second. The black shapes thought dodging them would be the answer and a simple task. They were wrong on both counts.

The torpedoes targeted single ships. As they moved out of the way the torpedoes continued on to the last co-ordinates they had and detonated. Only a ship width or so out of their original position, the black ships vaporized in the heat of the photonic explosions.

Though pleased with his progress so far, Captain Alexander was never too happy when things looked too easy.

" Bencre, what do you make of that?" Turning, he saw Bencre looking from screen to screen as if he were searching for something. Then, as if satisfied he had missed nothing he turned to his Captain with a look of almost disbelief on his face.

"Sir they have no shielding."

Alexander stared back, mirroring the disbelief with his own. "No shielding? They wouldn't be much of a match for a Cadet in a training fighter in those tubs without it. Then how did…"

"Sir none of the ships involved in this has any shielding. Nor does that station."

That at least explained how they were able to do so much damage. But where the hell were they? Try as he might he couldn't think of a single civilization that had no shield capabilities of some sort. At least none that had…"

As if in answer to his unfinished determination, Mr. Bencre said, " From all the sensor readings I can get they have no warp capability either."

Alexander would have taken time to ponder this, had Lt. Sawyer, the communications officer not shouted, "Sir, I have the woman we heard on the Comm. Says her name is Commander Susan Ivannova."

"Put her through." Holding up a hand to delay him for a moment, he turned to the helmsman, saying, "Park us next to that station and have sensors sweep the area constantly. Those things might be tubs but they do have teeth." Signaling the Comm officer he said, "Go."

The main view screen lit up to show a beautiful but haggard face, streaked with blood and caked with dirt. Blood on her tunic hinted at wounds they couldn't see while bloody spittle in her mouth suggested internal injuries. But her voice, no longer assured of its own demise had a new, (and if he had known her,) more familiar timbre. One he could've appreciated.

"This is commander Susan Ivannova of Babylon 5 to unknown ship. Whoever you are, thank you."

Trying to diffuse the urgency of the situation Alexander said with a smile. "Just happened by and saw you all had a hell of a party going." Then dropping the façade, he went on in deadly earnest fashion, "Besides I never did like to see someone get hit when they were down. But tell me something Commander, what is your outfit?"

At first, Ivannova looked confused. Finally she answered, "Earth Force."

Even before Alexander said anything she could see he had no idea what she was talking about. She had known the ship wasn't Earth force yet she had seen the markings on it in English. Now she looked at the uniform he wore, the insignia, and realized that where ever he was from, they had no idea about the Shadows. Or the war.

Alexander on the other hand, was, though equally stunned, more interested in the state of the station. He had no way to ferry people in the numbers he suspected were on that station.

"How many casualties?" Ivannova looked downtrodden. "Nearly a hundred thousand. Maybe more." She looked up at the screen and smiled at Alexander. "It would have been all of us if you hadn't shown up."

Almost embarrassed by her gratitude, he simply said. "Glad to help. We can…"

Suddenly from just outside the range of the screen, came a voice straining to be heard, "Susann!!" Seeing her turn, he watched her face convulse with horror, then joy as she reached over to grab someone stumbling into view.

"Captain! John I thought you were dead!"

"Would have been if that had lasted another minute or so. I don't know how you stopped them but I Am really glad…"

"Wasn't me. It was… I never did get your name."

"It's Alexander Commander. Captain Dayton Alexander.

3.

"Well Captain Alexander, I don't know who you are or where you hail from but on behalf of Babylon 5, thank you very much."

"Time enough for that later. You both look like you need medical attention. Can we beam you aboard or do you have your own facilities?"

Ivannova started to say something but Sheridan cut her off. "To tell the truth we don't know. Comm system is down and Med-lab is cut off."

"Understood." Turning to someone they couldn't see off screen he said, "Beam them straight to Sick-bay. I'll meet them there. And keep me posted on those damn…"

"Shadows." Sheridan chimed in. Alexander thought for a moment. The name fit. He nodded. "Two to beam up. Energize."

As Sheridan and Ivanova watched, all the while wondering what this "beaming" was, the room suddenly began to shimmer and grow dark. Filled almost instantly with a feeling of panic, they wondered if their rescue had just been a dream. A delusion created by their minds to shield them from the knowledge that their lives were over. But almost as quickly the shimmering faded, leaving them, not on the familiar, if devastated C and C of Babylon 5, but a whole different place in another room. And as they would learn, on another ship.

"Easy now." They heard the voice as strong hands buoyed them up. "We'll get you in this bed and have you fit as a fiddle in no time."

Both Sheridan and Ivannova were more than a little afraid, although neither was about to let it show. Just then, Captain Alexander walked in.

A little taller that Susan, he was powerfully built, evidenced by the way he took over from the slight medic who was trying, not too successfully to wrestle Sheridan onto the bed.

"I'm Captain Alexander. This is my Chief medical technician Doctor Davis and his staff whose names, if they will forgive me, escape me at the moment."

That brought smiles and muffled laughter from all. True, he could not recall their names but he knew what each ones strengths and weaknesses were. He continued.

"And you are guests on Federation Star Ship Daehawk."

Sheridan looked at Ivannova, while she looked at him, both equally perplexed. Finally Sheridan said, "Seems you've outdone yourself this time Commander."

Another round of laughter.

"After Doc does his thing, we need to talk. We…"

Captain, I don't want to seem ungracious but we have over a hundred thousand beings still on that station. If the Shadows return…" "From the first encounter they had with us I don't see them spoiling for a re-match. Besides my crew is scanning for them. We couldn't seem to get through their hulls but we can pick them up."

Sheridan was not deterred. "Even in Hyper-space?"

Now it was Alexander's turn to look confused. "What is… 'Hyper-space'?"

"That is how we travel faster than light. The Shadows can…"

"Hold on little girl." That had come from Doctor Davis. "Dayton she has at least three fractured vertebrae and several other fractures. I'm going to have to treat them fast. Give me a few minutes." Before Alexander could begin to say anything Susan was already objecting. "I can't be down that long. If the Shadows come back..."

Alexander reached out and touched her shoulder. He had a feeling he understood the problem. "Judging by the technology I've seen so far, you think you'll be down for at least weeks, right?"

When Ivannova nodded, Alexander turned it over to Davis. "Not to worry Ma'm, you'll be up and dancing by dinner time. Just fuse a few bones, re-generate the cells and presto. We can even remove that bone spur you're trying to grow on your ankle. But we need to do it now before you make a mistake and damage your spinal cord. Then you'll have to be here for at least a week."

Susan thought back to the display she had seen this ship perform on what was left of the view screens in C and C and realized they were not just advanced at the art of killing.

Sheridan was equally amazed. The ship, the transporter as he'd heard someone call it, now even the medicine they used…

Suddenly another thought hit him. "Captain, can you beam over some of my staff? They may need help."

"Not a problem, but we will need a location."

Sheridan took a deep breath, winced and blew it out. "All our Comm is out. And I doubt if there's anyone really trying to fix it right now."

"Do you have a frequency we can use?"

Sheridan rattled it off but it was useless to Alexander. Suddenly he had an idea. "Lt. Sawyer, see if you can tap into their network over there. Let me know when you have…"

"Already done sir. Started that as soon as I heard the internals were down." Sometimes his crew amazed even him.

"Talk to the ones you want. They'll hear you." By now Sheridan was beyond being surprised. "Steven, Michael can you hear me?" The link performed as if it were completely functional. Both men came on the line almost at once. "John is that you?!! We thought you were dead!"

"I would have been if it weren't for our new friend."

Ever the cynic, Garibaldi was first to ask, "What new friend?" "I'll explain it when you get here. Steven what about you?"

"Oh I'm fine. He said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "My only complaint is that I have half of Med-lab four between me and the nearest exit!"

"Captain, if you would?"

"My pleasure Captain. Lock onto their signals and beam them both to Sick bay."

He had no more given the order than Sheridan burst out "Garibaldi, it's no trick!"

Seconds later the air began to shimmer in the middle of the room. Remembering the disorienting feeling he'd had, Sheridan began to shout, "Michael it's okay!" even before they had finished coalescing. He was afraid Garibaldi would start shooting thinking it was a trick of some sort by the Shadows.

He needn't have worried. Anticipating his state of paranoia, the transporter operator had monitored his weapon and rendered it inoperative by draining its charge. Seeing Sheridan in the bed with people standing around him he was unsure of his next move. Sheridan spoke up at once. "It's all right Garibaldi. This is the gentleman that saved our lives."

Seeing the look on Sheridan's face. And Susan in the next bed being treated Garibaldi finally began to relax. And the room began spinning. Grabbing his arm Steven tried to hold him up but his own injuries made the task beyond him. The two other Medics however, rushed in and grabbed both men helping them to beds.

Satisfied with Susan's progress Dr. Davis made his way to his latest acquisitions. Seeing that Garibaldi was in the worst shape he went to work while speaking to Steven. "Your injuries, while painful Dr., are not life threatening. A little pain med for now and we'll have you up in no time."

As usual Dr Franklin was less interested in his own well being than he was with helping the rest of the world. " He's going to need Trophanmine to stop any internal bleeding." At that one of the younger Medics turned and said, "No one's used that concoction in at least a hundred and fifty years." Seeing Steven's shocked look, it was Sheridan who put the fine point on it.

"Seems our new friends aren't from around here."

4.

After two hours in sick bay, all had been well enough to travel. Sensor scans had shown the Shadows huddled in Hyperspace licking their wounds and trying, probably to formulate a plan against this new and so far invincible enemy. In the Captain's ready room Alexander had been getting the lowdown on the Shadows.

Things had been going fine up until about six weeks before. The White Star fleet, the remainder of which had shown up, had been holding its own against the Shadows. Then suddenly the number of Shadow vessels had tripled. The White Stars, already out-matched, now found themselves out-numbered as well. Then, as if deciding the Mimbari were no longer worth notice, they launched an all out attack against the Vorlons. No one knew for sure what happened but there had been no sightings of Vorlons since.

And the number of Shadow vessels was greatly reduced as well. But still enough to give them an edge over the White Star and Mimbari fleets. With the Centauri staying quiet, and the Narn occupied by them, the only major power left was Earth, who had made every effort to stay out of it.

Leaving just whatever could be gotten from the League of Non-aligned Worlds. And the pickings had been slim. But they had managed to create a viable force. With Babylon 5 as its hub.

Only now that hub had a few less spokes.

The damage to the station had been considerable. It was only a miracle that had kept it in one piece. And that miracle's name had been Daehawk.

In return, Captain Alexander had told them about the Federation and the Earth he knew. With all of that out of the way, we rejoin the conversation some hours later.

"With your ship, Captain we could conceivably mount an offensive that might drive the Shadows back to hell for another thousand years."

"Agreed. But I have just one problem. We have no idea how long we'll be here. By whatever method we arrived, when and if it shows up again we have to return to our universe. If the Shadows can be taken out before that, I'm all for it. But if not…"

"If not, you head back and leave us high and dry." That had been Garibaldi. Susan was for once defending someone else's motive's. "If it weren't for them we wouldn't even be having this meeting. At least not in this plane of existence. This isn't their war."

Alexander spoke up then, his voice echoing with the standard rhetoric of any Star Fleet officer, combined with his own staunch belief in what he was saying.

"You're right Ma'm, this isn't our war. But from where I sit, it looks like it's everybody's. At least in this universe. If we can stay long enough to help finish it for you, we will. I give you my word as a Star Fleet officer on that. And on this. If we do have to leave before this is over, we'll be back. If we can find a way through the barrier between your universe and ours, we will be back."

At this Bencre made a coughing sound in his throat. The universal sign for, "Just a second."

"Captain, I know this may not be the time but I feel I must remind you of the Prime Directive."

Seeing the looks of confusion, he explained. "In our culture we have learned that we cannot presume to know what is best for any other. So our laws forbid us interfering in the progress of another race," he dropped his voice almost apologetically, "especially one as technically… deprived as you."

This gave Garibaldi another opening. "You mean you come upon groups fighting for their lives and just leave them to fend for themselves, knowing they'll be slaughtered? Doesn't sound like any high ideal I ever heard of."

"Nonetheless, that is our Prime Directive." Alexander said. "We are forbidden to interfere in the internal goings on of any world. That said, I don't think it applies here."

Now it was Bencre's turn to look confused. Alexander ran his hand through his hair. "Look, the Prime Directive is to keep us from imposing our will on a fledgling race. And to keep us from altering that race into something they shouldn't be. We are doing neither. We answered a distress call that put us in the middle of a fire fight. We were fired upon by a ship of unknown origin with obvious hostile intentions. And we gave aid and comfort to those who sent the distress call. I think we can take the high ground so far."

Bencre wasn't through however. "Yes but now what? We dispatched the enemy and are doing all we can for the injured, but what about tomorrow? What do we do if they come back? In force this time? Remember, we only took the one hit from that one, and judging by the damage they did to that station out there, it was a light one."

Sheridan answered that. "Probably trying to cripple you without destroying your ship. They love new technology they can steal, and your ship was unknown to them. Next time," he turned to the Captain, "they won't hold back."

Alexander met his gaze, and nodded. "All of which makes it a guilt edged priority that we know as much about these things as we can before the next time we meet. And I don't see us finding a better place to learn than right here. And as for the Prime Directive? I frankly don't see where it applies. This isn't an alien race, it's ours, am I correct Doctor?

Davis shrugged. A big man himself, he often debated finer points of logic with the crew. Alexander was counting on winning him over to his side. "As far as I can tell, yes. Right down to the coding of their DNA."

"So you see, we're not aiding an alien race. We're helping an off-shoot of our own. Bencre simply nodded saying, "Good. At least we have a consistent story when we get back. Always hated trying to guess what everybody else said."

The laughter this time was loud and unanimous, if short lived.

The Comm sounded. "Bridge to Captain Alexander."

"Alexander here."

"Sir those things are going out of range. We've managed to track them a while through a network of Tachyon emitters that we came across but they seem to be falling back. We… hold it."

The Comm went silent but Alexander could still hear it was open. He felt odd as he waited for the conversation to resume.

"Sir, you better take a look at this."

As everyone in the room turned and watched, the wall behind them came alive with images not unlike the storm that had brought them there. To Sheridan and the others it was simply Hyper-space. But that was not what was disturbing about the picture.

As they watched, little black dots began to appear at great distances. Growing closer each second. It took only a moment for everyone there to recognize what they were.

Shadows!


	2. Chapter 2

2 A Cross Point in Time: Pt.2

_Captain's log: Supplemental:_

_The DaeHawk has found itself in the middle of a conflict of galactic proportions in unbelievably, another universe. Having driven off the attackers and rescued several of the combatants from the space station known as Babylon 5,we have learned that the attackers are beings known as Shadows. And though their ultimate goal is unknown, the destruction of this station has apparently been deemed part of it. And now we find ourselves in the middle, with an Armada gathering in what our hosts have called, "hyperspace."_

"Status, Mr. Bencre?" "They are not moving. Simply holding position in that 'hyperspace.' My guess would be examining our attack to look for weaknesses they can exploit."

"Agreed. And regardless of whatever advantages we might have, the numbers don't look good. I want options. So let's get to work." After two hours they re-convened with new information and outlooks. While Franklin and Garibaldi had returned to Babylon five, along with Ivanova, Sheridan had remained in order to answer any question that might come up, and to help with the planning he knew had to be done.

"Assuming we can take them out as easily as the first ones, we could just do a flyby at warp and pick off as many as we can at a time." That was Major Tucker, commander of DaeHawk's strike force. As second on tactical, he often filled in for Bencre as the combined duties mounted. "It might take a few hours but even so we could at least reduce the number of hostiles until they take the hint and run."

Bencre was not impressed. "You're assuming they will turn and run of course."

"Why not? We took out seven of their ships in less than a minute! At that rate if they stand and fight it still won't last very long!"

"It'll last a damn sight longer than we will."

Now Bencre had everyone's attention. Alexander stared at his first officer. "Explain."

"It was like Captain Sheridan said, that first blast was designed to slow us down so they could get more ships in to take us over. They obviously didn't want to destroy us because the blast they hit us with was about a tenth of what sensors say they used on the station itself!"

Now it was Alexander's turn to look confused. Ten times what they had been hit with was at least as bad as a Borg sphere. But if they had that kind of power…

"And we were wrong about them not having shields. They're just a lot harder to read than the kind we use. On the plus side however, they have a vulnerability to our Phasers."

Tucker was not impressed. "You have a crystal ball, I presume?"

Bencre smiled. "Better. Access to the data logs off that station. See those 'White Stars' out there?" As the men nodded, he rose and walked to the vid screen, which now displayed the station and the fleet that had taken up position around it. "They have what they call Gravametric drive. In normal space it's nothing compared to Warp drive. But in this Hyper-space, it makes us look like we're walking really slow. And from all the Intel they have here these Shadows are even faster. The weapon systems on them can't match ours or the Shadows, but they classify as formidable anyway you look at them."

Alexander spoke up. "So how fast would we be in hyperspace, if we use Warp?"

Bencre shook his head. "You won't. Ambient energy would make sustaining a stable warp field in there impossible. The absolute best we get is roughly ninety-five percent of what those White Stars can do. And that's if we use both reactors for propulsion."

This was rapidly getting out of hand. "You said they have a weakness to our Phasers. How?"

"Captain this is all supposition. But I think it comes from the fact that they, like the White Stars, use organics. In the case of the White Stars it's their armor. But these Shadows have completely organic ships. Since the Phasers strip energy out of the matter they come in contact with, and since living matter is connected more than inert matter, the effect of the beam conducts through the ship far faster than we normally see. And you saw the result."

This put things in a whole different light. Turning to Sheridan he said, "Looks like I may have to re-think that technologically deprived thing." Smiling , he asked, "Got any ideas how we can help that won't get us all killed?"

Sheridan shook his head. "You saw how well we were doing when you showed up. If you want to leave, we wouldn't…"

Tucker beat the Captain to it but not by much as he burst out, "Running is not our style, Captain. This ship was built to take on worse than these things. At least now it'll be a fairer fight."

Alexander nodded his agreement almost absently. Then turning to Sheridan he asked, "They seem to want you dead personally Captain. Why?"

"Aside from being the leader of the resistance as it were, we did find out they have another weakness besides your Phasers. Telepaths."

Now Bencre leaned into the conversation torn from his screens by curiosity. Seeing the interest of his audience Sheridan went on. "All those ships have one person on board that acts as a CPU and controls the whole ship. What we found out not too long ago was that the control could be broken if a telepath used their power to interfere with that control, leaving the ship all but helpless. But you need one telepath for every ship, And we just don't have enough. The ones we had on B5 are either dead or exhausted from trying to hold back the attack. Sorry we can't offer you any help on that front."

Now Bencre sat back smiling. "On the contrary Captain. You may have just saved all our lives."

After a few seconds more concentration Alexander leaned back in his chair and smiled saying only, "Indeed."

2

Alton Tucker was neither a thoughtful or insightful man. His lot in life had always been the role of the following the orders of those above him. The intricacies of plotting and planning more than the simple assault eluded him. Not exactly a failing but, it did hold him back in the ranks of Star Fleet. Only his excellence at accomplishing his orders had gotten him this far. So Captain Alexander was not surprised he was out of the loop on this. 

The fact was Bencre was only involved because he had helped to develop it. Other than that it had been "Commander: eyes only."

"Mr. Bencre would you care to explain to Captain Sheridan… and Mr. Tucker?"

"Of course sir." Turning to the screen again, he cued a file from his personal logs. After a few seconds, he turned the screen to Sheridan. 

"This is the enemy this ship was created to face. They are called the Borg." As Sheridan watched the screen shimmered, then coalesced into a square ship the likes of which Sheridan couldn't believe. It was difficult for him to conceive of any race building a ship so strangely configured but he assumed there was more to it than just its ascetic qualities.

Bencre continued. "They were first encountered on a deep space run by our flagship, Enterprise about ten years ago. Two years later they attacked Earth the first time, in the process destroying better than half the fleet." 

Sheridan was impressed. Despite the realization that the White Stars were at least equal to them in overall power, the thought of one ship defeating a fleet of ships with the capabilities of this one was staggering. Bencre went on.

"During their second encounter, the Captain of the Enterprise, one Jean Luc-Picard was taken captive, and physically altered to become one of them. This proved to be their undoing." 

"Captain Ryker refused to give up on his Captain and with the expertise of his chief engineer and their android third officer found a way to reach Picard through the hive mind the Borg use. They succeeded in freeing their Captain, but more important to us provided the research heads with a new avenue of approach for dealing with the Borg."

The screen blanked for a second. When it returned, a new image showed. "This was what came out of that new research. It's code-named 'The Infiltrator." It's a tunneling neutrino beam with a variable matrix designed to sever the connection between the hive mind, or collective as they call it, and individual members of the Borg. It was never used in combat as the Borg have been… stymied for the moment, but from what you just described of these Shadows, it appears to be a very good choice of weapon against them."

Sheridan was intrigued. "How so?"

Now it was Alexander's turn. "You said that telepaths can cut the connection between the human CPU and the ship itself. With a little adjustment, I think this device can duplicate that. It might not be its intended use, but we can improvise."

"There is one thing more." Bencre had held back this last part. Now, knowing the gravity of the situation, reluctantly added it to their list of options. 

"We have one other weapon system on board. As you know Captain we carry three types of Photon torpedoes. Standard type seventeen Mark III, quantum type two… and the new transphasic type Janeway brought back …or got from her future self."

Alexander nodded. Bencre went on. "From what I have been able to gather from our sensors, the quantum torpedoes will prove far more effective against these Shadows than any phaser. The transphasics however, are more effective still, but there is a side effect. Owing to the ambient energy of this hyperspace, computer simulations indicate a transphasic explosion inside of it would cause a massive shock wave. Enough to rip the fabric of it, tearing a hole through it to whatever lay on the other side."

"Our world?" That had been Tucker, his anxiousness forcing out the question. Bencre was unmoved. "Unknown. But according to the computer the resultant loss in integrity would make travel in the vicinity of the event impossible. The area would be too unstable to traverse, while radiation levels would become intolerable, at least to any ship we know of."

"For how long? And how far would this effect reach?" Sheridan asked, although he feared he already knew the answer. "Unknown. It could reach a few thousand kilometers and peter out, or it could start a self perpetuating reaction that would in time wipe out all of what you call hyperspace. Or any place in between."

Sheridan blew a low whistle. "Talk about your last ditch effort." 

Alexander was also disturbed by magnitude of what Bencre had described. If it came down to it they could save them from the Shadows but at what cost? Without warp drive, they were trapped in whatever part of space they were in when it happened. And if they gave them warp technology, since their Comm system was also tied up in hyper-space, there would be no way to spread it to outlying colonies except by going there. A feat that would take generations to accomplish if they were able to do it at all. He hardly noticed Bencre was continuing to speak.

"As the Captain here said, this is a last ditch effort. One that we should consider only if all else fails. Or if we run out of time. 

"That could happen a lot sooner than you think." Every head in the room spun toward the voice. Tayl Reddin had come into the room quietly, like the bearer of bad news who wanted no part of it.

"We have another problem. Whatever we went through is deteriorating the Dilithium crystals. Estimate thirty hours before they lose integrity to the point where they can't maintain the matrix. Then it'll be batteries and impulse until they give out." 

Alexander thought furiously. "What if we shut down the Warp core and go on the batteries now? Can we stop the deterioration?"

Reddin shook his head, "First thing I thought of. The process is already in full swing. We have the back-up set of crystals, but they're losing integrity as well. Not as fast as the ones we have on line, but it's still there. And once we energize them, it'll happen faster to them than it is to the ones we have on line now. Whatever happens, in two days, they're history." 

And five minutes later, Alexander thought to himself, so are we.

Sheridan however was thinking along different lines. "What about using one of our power sources? You said that it was roughly the same level as yours, the question is are they compatible?"

Reddin rubbed his chin, "Hard to say. Your system of energy notation is basically the same as ours, but we need to run tests."

Before anyone else could say anything else, the Comm buzzed. "Captain Alexander?"

"Alexander here."

"We have incoming sir. At least five hundred of the hostiles have broken off and appear to be heading toward us at extreme speed."

Looks like we won't have to worry about the Dilithium crystals after all he thought bitterly. Looking over he saw Sheridan calling his ships in as well. Alexander nodded. Seemed the two days was a bit optimistic.

Striking the button on the Comm for inter ship open Comm-line, he simply said "Red alert! Battle stations!" 

The Shadow vessels didn't use a vortex like Alexander had seen the White Stars do. They simply seemed to fade in wherever they wanted. Not wanting to show up too close to the station now, as Drahl had been made aware of their attacks and lay in wait with the full weaponry of Epsilon Four. And with this new ship and its vicious beams the Shadows opted for a new attack. It took Alexander just a second to recognize it for what it was. At that he beat Sheridan only by the slimmest of margins. 

"Hold fire! They aren't attacking. Those are sacrificial lambs. They want to gauge our range."

Sure enough, once the plan apparently failed. The Shadows again vanished into hyper-space without ever firing a shot. 

Sheridan rubbed his arm, which despite the expertise Dr. Davis had shown still ached somewhat, as he turned to Alexander. "Good call Captain."

Alexander only smiled. "You've never fought a Klingon. That would have been a textbook play to them."

Turning to Bencre he asked, "How long before our new toy is up and running?"

Bencre rubbed his chin. "If we were at a Starbase, I'd have to guess about two weeks with all the tests we'd have to run."

In an almost mocking tone, Alexander replied, "We are not at a Starbase and you have two hours." 

"Agreed. Now where did I keep that last miracle?"

Bencre and both Captains decided that was worth a good laugh.

While Sheridan and Alexander debated their next move, Ivannova and Garibaldi were trying to re-organize the station. Although it held together it was by only the slimmest of margins. And despite power being supplied by the DaeHawk they were unable to break through the jamming the Shadows initiated to anything more than Epsilon four. While several White Stars had made their way to the area, once inside the jamming they had no way to contact others. Or members of the Non-Aligned Worlds for help. They were in effect, on their own.

Meanwhile, on board the DaeHawk, Sheridan tried to aid its crew in finding a way to break the jamming while Bencre attempted to calibrate the Infiltrator for the Shadows. With less than thirty hours to complete the task they wasted no time looking for ways to mediate the effect. Especially after Sheridan had explained what he knew of the condition of those who flew their ships. 

"They use a sentient being for their CPU. Once chosen they're trained to the point of obsession to perform in them. They have no other desire than whatever they are told by their captors. And no mercy. They kill whatever they are told and they do it quickly. According to Delenn, no one has ever escaped once they are in one of those things. Killing them will be a mercy in my opinion."

Alexander had to agree. But the thought reminded him of the treatment given by the Borg, always a personal horror. But this was not the time to play "One-Ups"

"First thing we need is some idea of how bad it can get. If we can get in this hyperspace we can launch an attack, see what we can do to reduce the odds."

Sheridan agreed somewhat reluctantly. Confronting a fleet that size was not a pleasant thought but if anything could do it, it was this DaeHawk.

"Your Infiltrator, how long until it's ready?

"All we can do is done. Everything else will have to be on the fly. Final calibrations require us to engage the enemy. And the range is going to be trouble. Estimating a thousand meters or less for maximum effect."

A thousand meters! They'll be close enough to smell 'em. Turning to Sheridan he asked. "What kind of range do they have?"

"A hell of a lot more than that! They'll be flanking you long before we can get that close." 

Not good. Despite the Phasers effectiveness, they would still be out numbered massively. And they had yet to taste full power from one of their opponents, let alone the numbers they faced now. But Bencre wasn't finished. 

"You misunderstood. I said max effect is at one thousand meters. The drop is rather low out to about five. And it still registers at fifteen although, as you might expect it's not debilitating at that range. But if we can get inside of ten thousand meters, if I read this right, they wont be flanking anyone. And we can concentrate the beam to focus on a single ship or group of ships to render them helpless. Enough that your White Stars can finish the job. And if all else fails there are the Transphasics."

Alexander stared at the tactical screen, seeing the massive number of dots waiting for them. Final count had made eight hundred ships but the smaller ones were hard to separate. There could easily be a thousand ships out there with one goal in mind. Killing them! 

It didn't matter. As of right now they couldn't get home. And they couldn't try to find a way home as long as these things were out there, hunting for a way to kill them. In order to do what they had to, they had to kill them first.

Alexander was not a diplomatic sort. Like Tucker his skills were more limited than some in Star Fleet, such as Picard or Janeway. But like Tucker he was as good as it got at what he knew. And like it or not, he knew war.

Sheridan understood the man. He had watched him defer or debate as necessary. And his men few that they were, didn't question or second guess him. And he owed him his life. 

A debt he suddenly had an idea on how to repay. "Alexander, what if we use the White Stars to run interference? They're maneuverable enough to get off more than a few shots. And it might give you time to get set up."

Alexander knew what he was doing. Not a man to sit while others fought his battles he was looking for a way to get into the action. Not a bad play at it either. But Alexander had other ideas. "How tight a formation can they handle?"

"Anything you want. We can even slave them to your control so they mirror every move you make." 

This caught Bencre's attention. "We could lock them in above the compression Phasers. They could give us free access to hyperspace at a moments notice. If we can slave them in they could give us a boost in speed once we're in there."

Suddenly Reddin spoke up. "They can give a little bit more than that. I've been studying this Gravametric power source of theirs. I think it can act as a carrier for the Infiltrator. With it we can broadcast a lot further And since their weapons are already powered by it…"

"Then we have a two pronged attack." Sheridan looked almost proud. At least it was a contribution. 

Ivannova came on line then. "Captain, we have reports of movement on the fringes of the Shadow fleet. Looks like they're up to something!"

Understatement was one of Susan's innate talents. Having been stung in their first encounter the Shadows had used the last several hours to try and figure out what their new enemy was. With no record of anything like the ship they had then tried to get sensor readings. Covertly of course. Only to find they had little to no luck penetrating their shields and the Armor that the ship had. Fearing it was simply waiting for reinforcements, they had held back debating their next move. Now assured there was only the one they had decided to mount another attack. They would overwhelm the ship with numbers, and once done with it, take its technology to aid in their cause.

Seeing the flood of ships suddenly taking aim at them, Alexander knew there was no time to do any of their more elaborate plans. It was plain and simply, time to fight. 

"Sheridan, call in whatever you've got and have them make us a hole into hyperspace. We'll try to knock them down, you take them out." Seeing Reddin begin to protest, he added quickly, "Put one White Star on our starboard beam. We'll try to use it to boost the Infiltrator if we get the chance."

"Done."

Over the Comm he shouted to his crew, "Red alert! Battle stations!"

3

The Daehawk spun away from Babylon 5 following a single White Star, followed by a dozen others. As he watched the ship seemed to glow for a second, and then he saw the vortex form in front of it. "That's the target, helm. Take us in. Full impulse." Then to the Comm, "Daehawk to leading White Star. Fall back into position on our beam. And keep this channel open. We may need you to take up the slack if we can't!"

"Confirmed!"

It took a second for the voice to register on Sheridan. "Michael is that you?" "Big affirmative. What did you think I was gonna let you guys have all the fun?"

Alexander shook his head, laughing. "I would hardly qualify this as fun Mr. Garibaldi, but since you are here, take your position and hang on."

"Aye sir."

The Shadows saw the opposing force as soon as it entered hyperspace. It would have been laughable if it had not been for the one slightly larger ship leading them into the fray. Still unable to read it they decided to attack it on three fronts while they ignored the White Stars. They could be handled later. 

Splitting into waves their plan was simple. Hit it, hit again, and keep hitting it until it broke. Not an elegant solution but in their opinion, it was the most likely to succeed. One on one, none of them thought they had a chance against this invader. But together the simple force of numbers would do the job. The only thing they forgot was to tell the Daehawk. 

"Twenty degrees up! Emergency power to impulse engines!" Almost as soon as this was done, he shouted, "Ninety degrees to port! Compression Phasers… fire!"

Instantly the Phaser cannon down each side of the ship belched Phaser energy, compressed into an almost pod at every Shadow vessel in range. Having leapfrogged the first wave, the Daehawk found herself in the middle of a target rich environment. Once caught by the cannon fire, cracks in the Shadow armor showed, much to the delight of the White Stars who were eager to seek revenge for the friends and ships they had lost. Their lines broken, the Shadows struggled to regroup, only to find themselves extremely vulnerable to their attacks. 

But then the Shadows responded.

Not with watered down bolts of energy designed to incapacitate but with a full power onslaught designed to kill. Three White Stars vaporized as concentrated fire from several Shadow vessels struck them, overloading their shields in a matter of instants. Small fighters from both side sought more chinks in the armor of the main ships while they sought out targets they had the ability to kill as well. 

On the Daehawk, Alexander continued to bark orders. Seeing a knot of his enemies form in front of him, he shouted. "Torpedoes! Full Spread! Fire!"

Again owing to the fact he had positioned his ship in the heart of the Shadows, the effects were devastating. While the formation in front was dissolved almost at once, the effect on the ships to the sides was no less gratifying. 

With no time to enjoy the show however he turned to Bencre. "Status!"

"Shields holding at seventy per cent. Power levels nominal."

Good. They were holding their own. "And the White Stars?"

"Three destroyed, two damaged but still in the fight. The hostiles seem to be concentrating on us."

Good. If they ignore the White Stars, it may give them a chance to slip in a good shot or two. Turning to the helmsman, he said. "Evasive Gamma-7. Phasers and cannon, fire pattern Tango 3. Engage!"

The Daehawk leaped and spun almost majestically as it darted in an out of the Shadows, spreading as much death and destruction as it could. No Captain could have been prouder of his crew. Or more unsure of their fate. Despite their best efforts, they held little hope of being able to take on the entire fleet.

"How long before the Infiltrator is on line?" "Bringing it up now sir. Should be operational in two minutes!"

Two minutes was a long time in this situation but it was the best they could do. 

Sheridan was on the Comm steadily on the channel provided for him with the White Stars. He had learned one good thing. Owing to the ferocity of the DaeHawk's attack, the Shadows had been unable to maintain the jamming field around Babylon 5, allowing a message to be sent to any and all remaining White Stars and to any other ships in the area. Though there was little hope any of them would arrive before this particular battle was over, they would be able to perhaps mount a defense against whatever survived. 

This included Drahl on Epsilon four. Now aware of the Shadows, he lay in wait for any who might slip past with all the power of the great machine buried in the planet below. Once briefed by Susan he was angered by his ineffectiveness against in a battle fought in hyperspace. Yet he waited patiently for his chance, hoping he was not needed, but still some part of him hoping he was.

"Mr. Bencre, how long?" the two minutes had come and gone several times yet there was still no sign of distress among their attackers, save what the DaeHawk provided. "It's on line sir! We just can't get it tuned to them as fast as I thought! Stand-by!"

A Shadow bolt wormed its way past the shielding just then to strike the side of the armor on the port side. The jolt slammed the ship to the right as if it were being pushed. Only four of the original attacking White Stars had made it this far and the damage to them was beginning to show. Soon, Alexander thought, we'll be on our own.

He had held back the Quantum and Transphasic torpedoes till now because in truth he still feared what could happen here. But he was running out of options. Just then Garibaldi's ship took a blast to its rear quarter. Not fatal but enough to slow it down, which would be fatal if the Shadows decided to press their advantage. 

A quick check of the screens showed the battle was going well for them in truth. The Shadow fleet had lost over a hundred ships in the time they had fought so far. But not even the Daehawk could keep this up long enough to win. No, they were going to have to do something. Now!

"Mr. Bencre, are you ready?"

"It still won't have the effect we're looking for!"

"At this point I'll take whatever you've got. Hit it!"

"Aye sir."

Energizing the relays to the Infiltrator, the mechanism began to hum. That was the only clue it gave of being operational inside the ship. But outside the effect was far more pronounced. 

The screams of the Shadow vessels that had been so prevalent as to be ignored by everyone after a time, suddenly grew into what was later described as almost a scream of pain. Bolts of energy flashed across empty space towards nothing as the ships seemed to try and dive away from the source of whatever was happening to them, leaving both the White Stars and the DaeHawk virtually alone. In his ship Garibaldi watched as one Shadow spun off almost lazily careening into another, like a drunk trying to negotiate a dance floor.

Seeing an advantage, Sheridan fairly screamed at Alexander, "You did it! You got 'em! "So it would seem Captain. Mr. Bencre, status?"

Checking screens at what seemed an impossible speed, Bencre took a moment to report. "Apparently the effect is less than we'd hoped in fact, but far better in effect. They aren't disabled just disoriented."

That could be trouble. Disorientation could be overcome given time. And another round of this and there would be no need for a third. 

Thinking furiously Sheridan suddenly burst out, "What about that thing you said you could do with the Gravametric engines on the White Stars? Where you can transmit the effect! Can you get that working?" 

"Well, yes but…" "then do it fast! Captain Alexander I've got an idea." Indicating a grid map of the area he pointed out their position. "This is where we are! Far enough off the beacon that even if we lose this area it won't matter much. And we're at least a couple of weeks from Babylon 5 at even the best speed they can make!"

It took only a few seconds for Alexander to realize what Sheridan was proposing. "we still don't know if the effect will stop after so far or if it'll just keep going! You could cripple yourselves out here!"

"If they survive this, we won't! Shadows don't like having anyone around that knows their weaknesses. That's one of the reasons they wanted to kill B5. If we don't stop them and they regroup, we're done for either way. At least like this they'll play hell getting to their next target. With a little luck we might be able to reproduce this thing at least well enough to hold them off."

Suddenly, Garibaldi came over the Comm. "Captain looks like they're trying to reorganize. And your new weapon seems to be having less effect."

It was true. The spasmodic motions that had begun when the Infiltrator came on line were becoming less and less pronounced, bolts fired from Shadow vessels becoming more accurate with each passing second. Whatever the initial effect, it was either fading or being blocked.

A quick check of his own internal chronometer told Alexander there were less than twenty hours left before his ship was helpless. And for the most part so would the inhabitants of Babylon 5. Sheridan was right. They had to be stopped. "Sheridan, order your ships back to base! All of them! Have the cripples towed." 

But Sheridan only shook his head. "Too many, and no time." Same story, different universe. The good men have to die so the ones who produce the good ones can live. Sighing, he said, "All right have em jump here. They can get picked up in normal space or at least limp home from there."

Sheridan nodded, then turned to give the order. But before he could start Garibaldi chimed in. "I guess I'll hang with you. Once you trigger those things you'll need a way out of here if it gets too bad." Alexander was amazed he had been listening all the while. Sheridan just smiled, saying, "Never underestimate Mr. Garibaldi at being sneaky." 

"Load all tubes with Transphasic torpedoes! Stand by to fire on my mark!" turning to the helmsman, he then said. Mr. Hall, on my command you will turn in behind Mr. Garibaldi and follow him out of this place." Then s an after-thought, And if you get close enough to any stragglers, lock a tractor beam on them and bring them with us."

"Aye sir."

The Shadows were getting their second wind in earnest now, re-focusing their attack on the DaeHawk. Still unaware of its limitations in hyperspace, or the source of the strange malady that had afflicted them temporarily, they assumed the ship would make a dash at them again, to utilize its deadly beam weapons. And still unsure of its effective range, they held the back most of their ships while a small force acted as a buffer to slow the attack long enough for the rest to gather themselves. A few more seconds and they could resume a full scale attack of their own. 

The goal however had changed dramatically. Where before they had held out hope that they would be able to capture and possibly examine this new ship, it had become all too apparent that their only chance was to destroy it. In the battle so far they had lost some two hundred ships of (battle Crab) size and their entire fighter compliment had been cut in half. What they had left, assuming all else went well was still adequate to the task ahead, but much more of this and their plans would be in jeopardy. 

All of this was unknown to Dayton Alexander as he took stock of the situation, and his ship once again. Power levels down, but returning. Shields at sixty per cent, also firming up. Three compression Phaser cannon disabled and two rear torpedo tubes destroyed. "She might have never been built to fight this battle, but she's made a damn fine accounting of herself." He thought to himself. Her ablative armor was still active one hundred percent having only been touched a few times thanks to her shields. But at sixty percent they weren't going to hold out the Shadows very long.

All the while the DaeHawk was firing almost randomly now. With nothing in the fire zone but hostiles, Alexander ordered only sure kill shots to save both energy and present a false idea to the enemy. If they thought his ship was failing they could get sloppy. 

Mean while Reddin and Bencre loaded the forward tubes with Transphasic torpedoes. Ordinarily done by loaders at break neck speed, Reddin had convinced them to allow him to use manual loaders to assure their fit in the tubes, afraid some miniscule defect could set their plan awry.

Once they were in place, Bencre signaled the bridge, and sent up a small prayer that his worst case scenario was not about to happen.

"Captain Sheridan, your people ready?" Alexander sat on the edge of his seat, poised like a sprinter. "Five by five Captain. And good luck!"

"Tell Garibaldi to take a vector away from the area. Half speed! Once he sees the torpedoes go, punch us a hole. And don't … never mind. He probably won't listen anyway!"

Tucker, who had replaced Bencre at the weapons console, reported. "Torpedoes locked on areas targeted for maximum dispersion."

"Stand –by! Helm, give me twenty degrees down and forty starboard." As the ship nosed down the Shadows, thinking it was attempting to make a run for it, moved to intercept. They were sure the ship could not be in good enough shape to continue the fight and this maneuver only reinforced their belief. Even the main body dropped in toward them, ready to replace any that fell in battle. This would be their last attempt at the little ship they thought. For if it can run as well as it could fight they would have to begin this again later. A thought none of them enjoyed.

"They're coming in!" Garibaldi shouted into the Comm. He had taken a position four hundred thousand kilometers away and now faced in their direction. Assuming he knew what he was doing Alexander ignored him as he watched the Shadow vessels seem to pile up on each other in an attempt to reach them. Again and again, their beams struck the shields, wearing them down. And seeing less resistance than before, re-doubling their efforts to strike a fatal blow. 

Watching the dials for any indication of imminent failure Alexander waited for the right moment. There would be no reprieve should he miss.

Garibaldi on the other hand was equally enthralled by the sight. But for a different reason. Blame it on his innate distrust, or a combat mind set, but he saw something. Something that both Sheridan and Alexander had missed. 

Cutting in the Comm he screamed, "Hold fire! Captain Alexander, follow my lead! We can't get them all but we can make sure none of them can do any harm for a long time!"

"Garibaldi, what are you…"

"Look you said those things of yours will make hyperspace unusable, possibly forever right?" As he spoke he had the White Star dive even below The DaeHawk, then head into what appeared to be even deeper hyper space. The Shadows, caught by surprise, slowed unsure if they had walked into an ambush or not. Seeing their indecision made up Alexander's mind. 

"Follow him! Garibaldi, talk!"

"If your torps' do what you say then nobody will have hyperspace in the area you detonate them. On this heading we can get as much space as we can between the major shipping lanes and us. If it does take out hyperspace for a hundred A.U.s it won't do a whole lot to shipping. But if the Shadows are in the middle of it…"

"They spend the next few months, or years trekking across it at a sub-light speed." That had been Bencre. 

"When exactly did you come up with this Michael?"

" It just hit me when I saw em' lining up to take shots at you."

Alexander though, saw another problem. "We can't stay ahead of them very long. Do you have a safe place we can make a jump point?"

A Ranger from Garibaldi's crew spoke up. "We have several very extensive charts of this area. We use them to create short-cuts whenever possible. This area of space is almost beyond where we have been but not quite."

"Good enough." 

"Sir, the fleet is gaining on us. Estimate firing range in fifteen seconds." As if to correct him a bolt slammed into the side of the ship sounding as if a giant was knocking on the side door. "Single ship sir! Must've gotten ahead of the Fleet!"

"Aft Phasers! Fire!"

Again, blue white bolts shot form the rear of the DaeHawk, with devastating effects. And again for a second the Shadows seemed to hold back, but only for an instant. They were too committed now. That ship would die. Today. Nothing else mattered.

But seeing their hesitation gave Sheridan and idea. "Mr. Bencre, can you fire up your Infiltrator again?" 

"Sure but they've already adapted to it!"

"Run through all the frequencies you can. With luck they'll think it's another attack. And hell it might even work again!"

Alexander nodded and Bencre began at once. As he skipped through the transmission settings, he was pleased to note some appearance of the same discomfort they had displayed before, albeit short-lived. It did however buy them a few more minutes of running time as they again gave ground rather than be caught by a newer version of the same trick they had had to beat before.

"Not much there! However they beat it they did a good job!"

Garibaldi came over the Comm, again amazing Alexander that he could listen in so easily on their conversations. "It did enough! They say we're here. Launch and let's get the hell out of here!"

Echoing his sentiments, Alexander barked, "Bring us about and fire forward tubes." Spinning like a top, the DaeHawk reversed its direction and emptied her tubes in one quick motion. Then, mission accomplished, Alexander shouted, "Garibaldi I need that hole!" 

"Coming right up sir!"

True to his word, by the time the DaeHawk had returned to her original course, the vortex was forming in front of them. In the rear scanners they could see Shadow vessels scrambling to phase back into normal space. By the hundreds, as the torpedoes had been detonated behind their fleet, leaving them just to deal with secondary shock waves. Seeing their prey head for normal space they too, had begun the transfer.

Alexander and Sheridan noted this. Along with Garibaldi and every member of both crews. It looked as if the fight wasn't over just yet.

Breaking through the vortex into normal space, Alexander turned to Sheridan. "Have Garibaldi lock onto our side. We can tow him out of here at warp speed. Once we're clear we can come back and take out as many of them as we …"

But Bencre cut off his Captain. And in a voice that sounded as if he had just dug a grave with it said, "There is no need to hurry Captain. Look."

Outside, the Shadow vessels were visibly slowing, like toys winding down, each movement becoming more labored and less effective. No one watching could understand what was happening, let alone explain it. After what seemed only a few seconds, all thrust was gone from every ship leaving only inertia to propel them aimlessly, on collision courses or drifting off into space. They had made the jump to normal space, but it was clear they would go no further. As everyone in range watched the great black forms seemed to sag. To lose whatever had held them up against the torrents of space. They were quite finally, (and more than one among them hoped, irreversibly,) dead.

Both Sheridan and Alexander stared, neither quite sure what to say. Tayl Reddin sat at his console checking readouts and gauges, sensors and dials, all the time trying to reconcile what he saw with what he hoped. And despite the fact that they were the same thing, failing at it.

Finally Garibaldi came over the Comm. "John, what the hell is going on?"

Sheridan looked around at the crew of this semi alien ship. When his eyes fell on Bencre he started to ask a question, but Bencre, shaken out of his stupor answered as if in a trance. 

"They're dead sir. All of them. From the fighters to those big spider looking things. As soon as they came into normal space they just…died."

Alexander had turned to look at him as he spoke. The look on his face displaying all the confusion that permeated the bridge. All he could get out was, "Why?"

Reddin was playing back recordings the ship had automatically made of the event. Without really thinking about it he realized the answer and, still unaware of it, began to answer.

"These… Shadow vessels use… or rather used energy they drew from space. I mean hyper… no that's wrong too. They use the energy from between normal and hyper space. Yeah that's it. They drew energy as they needed it from between the fabric of space and hyperspace." Turning to the Captain, he looked at him blankly. "They drew energy directly, everywhere they went. And we cut it off."

Sheridan looked at the man, equally stunned. "You mean they had no back up system?"

Reddin shook his head. "They didn't need one! The ship itself did the work. Since the source was always there and the ship drew whatever it required automatically, they had no need for any other equipment. As long as the ship was functioning it drew in the energy it needed to work. And live! When we detonated those torpedoes, the reaction literally fried hyperspace for a dozen A.U.s in every direction. And with it, their source of energy. We just watched them starve to death in a few seconds."

One of the Rangers on Garibaldi's White Star suddenly asked in an almost terrified voice, "What about the people those things used to guide them?" Bencre, sitting at his console, simply shook his head. In a voice barley above a whisper he said, "There are no life readings out there. Whatever was, is gone."

Alexander started to say something. Anything that could stop him from thinking just then was a mercy. Suddenly the Comm came alive with Susan Ivannova's voice. Everyone stared for a moment before realizing that since the Shadows and their ships were gone, they could no longer jam them. A second request for acknowledgement from her, made in a far louder tone, caused half the crew to jump.

"Babylon 5 to DaeHawk, do you copy? Please respond!"

Her voice sounded almost as scared as it had when they had first picked it up. Though the danger was not hers she acted as if it were. Signaling the Comm to acknowledge, Alexander let Sheridan do the talking.

"We're here, Susan." Sighing, he said it once more as if to convince himself. "We're here."

"A billion and a half miles in every direction. Five torpedoes blew a hole in hyperspace you could fit every planet in the non aligned worlds in and still have room for all the Earth colony worlds."

Sheridan shook his head. Even now the scope of what they had done eluded him. He could say the words, look at the charts, he could even outline it for someone else. But comprehension of it was still beyond him. The sheer size made it unbelievable. 

But it was done. It was there. It was fact. 

Like the fact that in a thousand years, the Shadows would not return. That this had been their final gambit, and they had lost. Decisively. 

Of course he didn't believe it. There had to be more. Some pocket of ships away on a mission. Or holding some planet hostage. Or for that matter, in a repair shop somewhere having their spikes polished. Sheridan didn't know but he was sure that regardless of what had happened, it wasn't over. But these thoughts he kept to himself. Tomorrow, he could worry about them. This day still had its own problems.

And as they stood looking at the carnage they had created, one of those problems came to the fore.

Ivannova came over the Comm again, this time on video as well. Captain we just got word; Delenn is on her way. Should be here in about five hours. She apparently found several more from the White Star fleet." Good news indeed. But she wasn't finished. "That's just for openers. Take a look at this."

Switching to the external cameras, Ivanova continued her narrative. "It happened about ten seconds after the jamming faded. We have no idea where it came from. It just showed up. Any ideas?"

Sheridan and the crew looked on, stunned by the sight. They had already calculated the length and breadth of this reaction, so they knew it hadn't quite reached Babylon 5. But they hadn't seen it from outside the bubble it formed. 

The sight was transfixing. The edge of the bubble itself was as well defined as the sides of a vortex inside of a jump-gate, only this was exposed, like an open wound. Energy leaped and cascaded from one side to the other at will. But it was random. And fading. Clearly it was running out of steam. Susan went on. 

"It looks as if it's slowing down. We don't think it'll reach us but it's gonna get close. And there's this." As they watched the picture tracked to the left and zoomed in on an area. At first there was nothing but slowly an almost imperceptible motion caught their eye. Using his own ship's magnification powers, he trapped and examined the scene. I took no time for him to realize what he was looking at.

"That's the same wave that brought us here. But…how?

"It's not the same wave. It's another one. Must've been created when we detonated the torpedoes. And look at the speed!" Ivannova broke in again. "That was why we figured it had to be something you did. We can't even read it."

"No surprise there. The damn thing must be doing three point five warp. What's its heading?" Bencre and Reddin both began checking gauges. After a hasty conference they seemed to concur. And then, Reddin said, " It's riding the edge of the bubble, like a repair drone. It's literally fixing the mess we made."

"Estimate it will complete its circuit in three hours. When it does, things will be pretty much like they were before."

"Yeah and we end up permanent residents of this universe. Somehow I get the feeling this is all connected." Alexander mused. 

"Well whatever we're going to do it better be quick. As it travels it seems to loose size and stability. By the time it reaches us we may not fit into it any more. "

Thinking quickly, Alexander came up with an idea. One that would take care of all their problems. He was about to announce it when a blast severed their connection with Babylon 5.

"What the hell was that? I thought you said all those things were dead?" 

"Affirmative Captain! The blast came from behind us!"

"On screen!" The main viewer lit up with an image from the area in question. It was filled with what appeared to be fighters of some sort. Small and maneuverable. But behind them was another. Far larger and more menacing. Unknown to any of those under attack, these were some of the Shadows servants. After seeing their master's demise, now sought to finish the job they had begun.

"Battle stations! Shields to maximum! Phasers target…"

But Bencre cut him off. "No! We start this up again we may de-stabilize the whole area. If that is a way home, we can't afford to shut it down."

Sheridan yelled to Garibaldi, assuming automatically he was still listening. "Michael, split off and give them another target! Head back to Babylon 5 and let them know what's happening!"

"No way I'm gonna leave you here to fight that! Together we…"

"Together we nothing!" That was from Alexander. "Our way home is through that wave out there. And it's not gonna be there long enough for us to fight these things off and still make the jump in time. So we got one last shot at getting out of this! And you are not involved! So head back like your orders said. Your Captain will be right behind you!"

Although he had no idea what Alexander was talking about, Sheridan reassured Garibaldi, "Go Michael! We'll be fine! Try to get whatever you can and get back here! With luck they'll be gone and we can handle these things on our own."

Garibaldi wanted to argue but knew it was pointless. Ordering the White Star about he had a burst fired into the midst of the approaching enemy then ran as hard as he could for B5. With luck they wouldn't give up too soon.

His worries about the DaeHawk were unfounded. Having recovered over ninety per cent of her shields she was in no danger from the attacking ships. But as said they could endanger what they saw as their only way home. And there was the matter of any Shadow vessels still out there. Both of which were compounded by the fact that now they knew there were those who would try to avenge the deaths of their masters. 

And Babylon five was their most likely target. Despite the fact he didn't really know the place, Alexander felt its importance. And could see the mark it could leave on this galaxy. Even if it wasn't his, it was still just as important. And they needed an edge. It was time to give it to them. 

"Captain Sheridan you're with me! Mr. Bencre you have the bridge. Be ready to go at a moment's notice. Reddin, get everything you can off that anomaly. If we miss we may have to make our own."

Both men spoke as if choreographed. "Aye sir!"

Jumping into the turbo-lift, with Sheridan one step behind, he shouted to the computer, "Shuttle bay two!" As they lift complied he turned to Sheridan. "Captain you have to understand my job is to get my people home. And to report this to my superiors. That said, I have no plans to leave you without leveling the field a bit."

As the lift stopped, both men stepped out while he continued. "I had one of our runabouts loaded with everything it can hold in regards to weapons, tech, medical supplies and schematics."

Sheridan was surprised and grateful. He tried to interrupt Alexander to thank him but was waved off. " Not being as generous as you might think. If we do find a way back I think I'd much rather find you in charge than any of those things. Here."

They had arrived at the bay. Since the runabout used a ion power source not too different from the ones they used on B5, it would be simple to keep it operational. And it had it's own shields and Phasers. It even carried a compliment of twenty-five "mini- torpedoes" capable of taking out anything it ran into of comparable size.

"She's all yours Captain. She can do warp three point two. You can use her anyway you want. I'll leave that up to you. I saw those fighters of yours, and my guess is she won't be any trouble for you to fly. Tucker here will take you out and get you started. Once you get the hang of it, we beam him back and you are on your own. He has the co-ordinates we set up for the rendezvous. You go and we'll cover you with low power Phasers till you get clear. Don't worry about us and don't try anything heroic."

With that he extended his hand, saying, "All of my men wish they had time to shake your hand and every member of your crew, but we all know there isn't time."

For a second he wavered. He knew the odds were he'd never see this man again. Or any of them. And he felt the loss of what could have been a great friendship. But he had his duty. To both Star Fleet and his men.

Sheridan as well felt a sense of loss. But he understood what Alexander was doing. So the two men who should never have met said goodbye, both wishing they did not have to, and both knowing why they had to. 

No more words now as Sheridan walked into the runabout. A final wave and he disappeared into it. For a moment Alexander was unsure of himself, but the feeling passed quickly. Opening Comm to the bridge he ordered, "Commence fire pattern Ryker Epsilon. Maintain forty per cent power level on all Phasers! Fire!

As the Nighthawk lifted off and exited the ship, Sheridan saw it begin to fire with a writhing accuracy on the attackers. At first it seemed they were better at resisting the rays that the Shadows had been, but it soon became apparent that the rays were toned down to prevent any deleterious affects from reaching the anomaly they thought of as a way home. He wished for a moment he could help but was soon engrossed in learning how to pilot this new ship. Alexander had been right of course. Compared to a Star Fury, it wasn't simple but really no more difficult. As they ran the pre-described course, Sheridan felt more and more comfortable at the controls. So much so he felt no apprehension when they arrived at the target area about taking it over. 

"Just remember to keep your eyes on your sensor displays. Even at warp two things come up on you real quick."

"I will. You take care of yourself." Again Sheridan stuck out his hand. Tucker took it and after a vigorous shaking, saluted, saying, "God speed Captain."

"And to you Major. To all of you." Again, words failed both men. Stepping to the platform, he said to the computer. "Target in range?"

The computer hummed for a second before a familiar female voice said target has just entered transporter range."

With final nod to the Captain he said simply, "Energize." And was gone.

And Sheridan was alone. A quick check of his sensors showed the attackers had fallen behind and given up early once they realized the speed of both ships. Sheridan toyed with the idea of waiting until the DaeHawk was gone and then finding out what this little ship could do in open combat. But that was for later. Now he had to deliver this ship and all its cargo to Babylon 5. Opening a Comm channel he spoke in his best authoritive tone, "This is John Sheridan to Babylon five. Coming in on vector one seven five."

Susan came on at once. "Captain what are you doing on this frequency?"

He thought for a moment before answering, finally smiling to himself, "I'm just trying out a gift from a friend Commander. 

And he again wondered if he'd ever see that friend again.

The journey home was trivial to the point of being ridiculous. Once Tucker was safely on board, they had simply walked away from their attackers. As they slid up alongside the anomaly, it flared once again, engulfing them in what still appeared to be the hyperspace of Sheridan and his universe. After an hour of a relatively smooth ride they again found a rift that deposited them in normal space. Though not the space they left.

"Mr. Bencre, do you have our position?

After a moment Bencre replied, "Sir we are twelve light years from Star Base twenty-one. In Romulan territory!"

Things are never easy. "Full power to engines! Set course to Federation space! I didn't go through all that to get blown out of the sky by a War bird looking to make his bones!"

"Aye Sir!"

They passed out of the Neutral zone without incident, never even seeing a War Bird or any other Romulan. Once in Federation space they began immediately trying to contact Star Fleet.

Alexander had retired to his ready room to await the contact while he went over the events of the last two days in his mind. He was almost finished his second turn through when the bridge signaled Admiral Nshen pan Feur was on the line. 

"Captain, it seems, despite all the technological advances we gave your ship, you managed to get lost. Care to explain that?"

Alexander looked up at the screen and fought down laughter of a sort that could only have been taken for insubordination, and said, "I've been sitting here trying to figure out how to do exactly that sir. And I don't think it's going to go well either way. So we might as well start at the beginning…"

Epilog

On Earth, at Star Fleet headquarters, some two weeks later, Captain Alexander and Commander Bencre stepped out of the main entrance and walked to the shade of the huge oak off the walkway. Sitting down on the bench their exhaustion was readily apparent for anyone who passed by.

For the last week they had recounted their tale at the request of any,(And all,) who asked. After of course being probed, prodded and interrogated for forty-eight hours straight. Once they realized there was no alien influence causing them to lie, the real fun had begun, probing for every bit of information they might have regarding what they considered a possible threat to the Federation. 

Having failed that they then brought charges against the entire crew for violations of the Prime Directive. Hence their appearance here.

"What do you think? Are they going to hammer us for breaking the Directive?" Bencre asked his Captain, Knowing he was as much in the dark as he was.

To his surprise, Alexander was much more positive about the whole thing. "I can't see how. The whole idea of the Directive is to keep the natural order of things on alien worlds un-polluted by our ideas or interference. These people had the same ideas and beliefs as us. And our initial contact was brought on by an act of mercy. Like we said in the beginning, we have the moral high ground."

"Yeah. Providing they don't cut our feet off." He suddenly grew pensive. "You have any idea what that thing was? I mean really.

Alexander shook his head. "No, but I did some research when we got back. There used to be a legend about a place off the east coast, in the Caribbean. They called it the Devil's Triangle. Said ships and planes used to disappear into it and never come out. Some thought it was a door that opened into another dimension." 

"Don't tell me let me guess. 'A dimension not of sight or of sound but of mind.' I watch old vids too." 

"Okay. But this wasn't fiction. Or at least, not that kind of fiction. It was supposed to be 'unproven facts.' Regardless, it has a very familiar ring to it when you compare the two. Hell, we may never know exactly what it was."

"And that suits me fine. Long as I never see another one. But what if…?" 

"You worry too…Attention!"

Neither of them had seen Admiral Janeway step out of the building. She had just appeared almost at their side, smiling.

"At ease gentlemen. You act as though you've seen a ghost. Admiral Crane was called to handle some sort of dust up with the Breen in sector four and had to leave immediately. Since we can't convene your court martial again without three members, we decided that since we had already decided on your charges to dismiss and simply tell you the findings." Leaning in, in an almost conspirator's whisper, she said, "I won the coin toss."

Returning to her former bearing she went on, "We had a bit of a tough time deciding just what to do with you Captain." Then she seemed to break down for a moment, tired of the façade. "Both of you performed magnificently in the face of an unexpected and unprecedented event. And despite your 'loss' of some Star Fleet property, we felt you handled the situation as best could be done. And you also got a chance to field test some of the new equipment on that ship of yours. And despite some objections, none of us thought you were in real violation of the prime directive in spirit if not in fact."

Walking toward the transport that led downtown she finished her speech. "The bottom line gentlemen, is you did what you thought you had to. So we are willing to roll the dice on you once more. But rest assured, we will be watching you. And if this… type of thing happens again, you may not find Star Fleet so understanding. 

Bencre took a deep breath, then said, "Ma'm if this type of thing happens again, I intend to retire at once. Be it home or a penal colony on Rigel, it's still safer."

"Yes, I'm sure. Now, which one of you charming young men is going to buy me a drink?" 

The two men looked from one to another for a second. Then Alexander spoke up. "Dibs!"

As they made their way to the local drinking establishment, Bencre's curiosity got the better of him. "Admiral, have you heard anything on how they're doing with the technology we brought back? Some of their stuff was impressive, especially that hyperspace."

"We may never know. At least until it comes out into the light. Research has it all and they haven't released anything on it yet. Appears that, from what I understand, we don't actually have a version of hyperspace in our universe. And they don't know if it'll work on sub-space. As for the power sources? They may provide some new insight but not that much. Now that organic self repairing armor is another thing altogether."

As they walked into the bar, Alexander sighed. Out there was a war that he couldn't join. With people he would have been glad to fight alongside. They were still fighting, in another place, he was sure, and would be for some time. He hoped they won. Not just because he liked them. Because they were right. He felt that from the beginning. As he looked at the sky he wondered if he would ever know. 

And across a distance described only as her or there, through a veil that could not be penetrated, another Captain stared out the window of a station in that other place, and wondered if he would ever see his new friend again. Turning around he looked at the still tattered remains of his control room. Then squaring his shoulders, walked off to find something to do.

And still farther away, inside the veil that separated the two places, a pair of beings watched both of them, satisfied that their work was done. They looked at one another strangely. Mirror images of each other they could not help but wonder at the sight. After what seemed a long although indeterminate time, one spoke.

"So then, it is done?"

"Yes." 

The first shook his head. "I still feel almost shamed by our actions. We have interfered."

"We have done nothing but guide those who wished to do what we wanted done, to a place where they could accomplish it. As interference goes, this was of a most benign sort."

"And yet it is still interference. Which we pledged not to do."

The other held up his hand. "As have all our kind. Yet it is also part of our history that there are times when simple observation is not enough. We have seen what the creatures would have done to this place left unchecked before. It would take eons to correct that kind of devastation, if ever. And there is no logic in watching what you have already seen." 

"Fair and true. Still if others find out, they would not understand."

"On this we agree. So to spare them the discomfort of attempting to, we two shall bear this burden alone."

A smile,(of sorts,)then. "You sound almost like some of those from your universe trying to justify their actions."

The motion his avatar made could have been a shrug. "I confess some intrigue with the creatures. They are a strange lot. Always aspiring to greater things, yet willing to fall back into savagery if the need arises."

"Yes, as are the ones of my universe. Ever struggling toward enlightenment, but never too far from the abyss."

"Then we both agree the action was worth our own failing? At least this time?"

" Yes, but for me there will be no more."

The other nodded. "No, there will be no more for me either. Had their first one not been destroyed in the bowels of their home world this might not have happened at all, as we saw in the other time place."

"Then our 'assistance' would have been unneeded." Another smile. "Ironic, is it not? We injected a ship that had been created to fight a war that never happened, into a war that should not have happened."

"Indeed. That would be the best description of these events. But now it is done. And with that so are we. Be well brother."

"And you, my brother."

With that the two beings went their separate ways, through the mist of the in-between place. Back to their respective roles as observers of the cosmic stage. Not as critics or participants. Only as, as their name implied, Watchers. 


End file.
